Does it ever completely end!?

[klacrwdr]

lately i've been doing a lot better with my anxiety...the only problem is...as soon as i start to feel a little better and like i can FINALLY get back to normal and go out and do things again, i will have a dizzy spell or something anxiety related and feel like i'm back at square one.

my anxiety isn't as bad, but i can't get over these random dizzy and spacey feelings that i have. i know anxiety is my only problem, but for some reason, it doesn't help to know that that's all that is wrong. knowing that it is "JUST anxiety" doesn't change the fact that i can't live a normal life and i can't do normal things a 19 year old should be able to do.

my question is...does it ever totally stop? will i always have these relapses? i just want to be myself again. i'm tired of breaking plans and avoiding situations where i may be uncomfortable.

please help me!!

[AnxiouSteve]

When did this start for you?  Has it been a life long thing?  I've read that propper treatment for anxiety has an 80% success rate, where 'success' (I assume) is defined by complete remission.

With modern medication and Tx I would guess the remaining 20% fall into a spectrum of 0-99% better with the vast majority closer to the 99% end of scale (but don't quote me on that, please reasearch it and tell me). 

[klacrwdr]

not life long, although, i somehow think that would be better because then i wouldn't know how amazing and beautiful life is without anxiety.

it's been 2 1/2 years.

[Xalatimo]

It will end when you stop caring so much about when or if it will end.  Basically, sometimes it's not about completely eliminating the anxiety it's more about understanding and learning how to cope with it.  For me, it pretty much completely went away.  Most of it has to do with mindset.  If you're in constant fear of all the symptoms and always dwelling on not feeling right, it's going to be nearly impossible to recover completely.  Try not to let little things like being dizzy for a short period of time take you back to step one.  If that's the case, you'll never get anywhere because if you have anxiety, you're going to feel some weird things from time to time.  It's pretty much inevitable.  So instead of getting frustrated and going back to square one with every new symptom, brush them off as nothing more than annoying anxiety symptoms and wait until they pass.  Recovering from anxiety is not about being symptom-free, it's about being content with or without symptoms, and realizing that the symptoms themselves are harmless and temporary.

[laa43]

Xal is absolutely correct! It reminds me of a story I heard one time. The version I heard dealt with anger verses contentment however I think you can substitute anxiety verses peace (or peace of mind)......

            A grandfather and his grandson were talking and the grandson had been very angry that day about something. He was talking to his grandfather about this. His grandfather looked at him and said...." In all of us lives two wolves. One is content, happy, at peace with himself and the other is angry, bitter, and full of loathing. They both are at constant battle with each other." The grandson looks up at his grandfather with big eyes and says...."But grandfather, ....which one of them will win?" And the grandfather looks knowingly down at him and replys.....  "The one you FEED"

 I love this story because it is so true and applies to most of us. I like to replace hate vs. contentment with anxiety vs calm. I am NOT saying that there are'nt sometimes other circumstances beyond our control that contribute to our anxiety and worry  (such as chemical imbalances and traumatic experiences...etc) I am in NO way diminsihing the importance of these things. However, I agree with Xal.....we sometimes (at least I do) fill our time with negative thoughts, impending doom that never comes, and simply constant dwelling on our anxiety that we are feeding it, and by constantly feeding it, it will never go away. We need to stop feeding the fears (ex googling) and work on feeding the OTHER wolf! Just a thought!

[Pan]

It will end when you stop caring so much about when or if it will end.  Basically, sometimes it's not about completely eliminating the anxiety it's more about understanding and learning how to cope with it.  For me, it pretty much completely went away.  Most of it has to do with mindset.  If you're in constant fear of all the symptoms and always dwelling on not feeling right, it's going to be nearly impossible to recover completely.  Try not to let little things like being dizzy for a short period of time take you back to step one.  If that's the case, you'll never get anywhere because if you have anxiety, you're going to feel some weird things from time to time.  It's pretty much inevitable.  So instead of getting frustrated and going back to square one with every new symptom, brush them off as nothing more than annoying anxiety symptoms and wait until they pass.  Recovering from anxiety is not about being symptom-free, it's about being content with or without symptoms, and realizing that the symptoms themselves are harmless and temporary.

Agreed!

The thing is that it is probably true to say that once someone has suffered from an anxiety disorder they may well be more prediposed to suffer from other mental ailments or for the original disorder to return.  That said, it really is a matter of focus.  When you actually look at Health Anxiety, for the vast majority of us if a GP said 'these symptoms are totally benign and will not kill you but you will probably have them for the rest of your life' we would probably happily accept that.  With that in mind, it is clear that Health Anxiety actually exists in the realm of the subjective rather than the objective and that the element of Health Anxiety that troubles us is to do with the faulty perception of our body noise and sensations....as we start to 'recover' the focus on this noise and aslo on the percieved nastiness that this noise signifies is reduced to a point where your normal life resumes and, in effect, what was once all encompassing is just no longer an issue to you!  You have changed focus and this issues are just no longer on your radar.

What is interesting is that quite often you start to recover and actually realise all the physical sensations are still the same so what has actually changed?  Yep, it is all to do with how we analyse the situation we find ourselves in and about giving ourselves the permission to stop being the guardian of our bodies 24/7!

[Chantelle]

I doubt I will say anything that hasn't already been said but...I suffered from anxiety since I was in childhood and now, in my mid twenties, have finally come to terms with it. I do still have health anxiety which is partially why I am on this board but the rest of my anxiety has pretty much disappeared. In fact, on the way home yesterday I was thinking how amazing it is that my life has completely changed, that I can go anywhere, do anything without feeling anxious (unless I'm at the doctors ;) ). So even though it may not feel like it right now, you can live like a regular 19 year old you just need to know the appropriate steps to get there. If I can make such a huge turn around anyone can.

What I did about dizzy spells is that whenever they appeared I gave them very little time of day and I went on doing whatever it was that I was doing despite the anxiety. The only way you can get rid of that residual anxiety is by feeling the fear and doing it anyway.  You may feel uncomfortable or want to change plans but the only way you will get better is by practicing them so see it as a challenge that you are going to stand up to :) I also will tell myself, "So what, I'm kinda dizzy right now. That's ok, I'm feeling a little anxious, it's only anxiety and I know this is going to pass." Quite often it will slowly disappear after giving myself positive affirmations in that manner.

I know it's expensive...(but I hear you can buy it on ebay for really cheap) but I have gone through Lucinda Bassett's program (and no, I am definitely not the type to normally buy in to infomercials!) several years ago and it may sound like the cheesiest cliche but it completely changed my life. You should really look into it. She has a whole chapter devoted to relapses as well as secondary gains (why people refuse to completely let go of their anxiety). It's really worth it and made me go from being completely agoraphobic and anxious doing EVERYTHING (including taking the bus and or being at work!) to living a really free, relaxed life. Hope at least a little bit of this helped.

[klacrwdr]

Chantelle, I feel that your reply helped so so much! Thank you!!!
I was actually considering the Lucinda Bassett program, I think it may do some good.
I've made A LOT of progress over the past few dsays and I am sooo very glad!!
I'm learning to brush these feelings off and go on with life!

[AnxiouSteve]

Keep in mind that the 'sample pool' for your 'survey' is not at all representative.  Most people who have put HA completely behind them would not be here.  If they were, they would either be altruistic, interested in this sort of thing, or lying about being in remission. 

It's like asking a bunch of relapsed alcoholics who attended AA how well that program works

I had at least one bout of HA and Separation Anxiety as a small child, and it went away for 20 years. 

I assume with time the same could happen (Obviously talking about HA and not SA).  Maybe I need to stop posting so much here first (see my poll in the GAD topic).

I've heard that 80% of anxiety cases in general go into complete remission, but please check that as I don't recall the source.

Assuming that's true, I bet a large percentage of the remainder are either inadequately treated, or just fall on a spectrum of 0-99% better, with most receiving treatment being closer to the 99% end and very few at or near 0%.

Personally, I've now been at this 6 weeks and im 90% better than week one.  I'm taking Xanax (.25mg/day) and Seroquel (112.5mg/day) in low doses, and I doubt I will need them much longer (HUGE KNOCK ON WOOD).

I can say that after drawing a line with HA as of my visit to the neurologist that my biggest problem is anxiety in general, and not so much HA.  Most of my sensations that cued HA are greatly subsided, if not gone.  The ones that are gone only come back when I'm anxious, and as such don't bother me in and of themselves.

For instance, my biggest trigger was muscle twitching, which while not completely gone, went from a few per minute to a few per day.  For all I know this is my twitching baseline.  They were always very light and brief and are even more so now.

I was also Mg deficient when this set in, which is an anxiety related topic in and of itself, and includes a sentence or two about twitching.